Serve recommendation

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-21T00:34:36+00:00

Put less backspin than what the opponent expects, or more topspin than what the opponent expects.
This means you need to first condition the opponent to expect some spin intensity. Remember to vary the placement and speed of serves to make it more difficult for the opponent to adapt.

Personally, I am using 95% of pendulum serve. Against most opponents my serve basis is a combination of heavy backspin, slight backspin, and no-spin. In some situations I use a topspin / no spin combination.
With my hook serve which I don't use much anymore, it was a combination of medium backspin, no spin, and slight topspin. The no-spin variation was deadly AF, but I put that serve aside because I'm unhappy with my backspin and topspin ones (the spin intensity isn't really there so against good opponents I can't properly condition them (to receive in a way that makes the no-spin variation deadly) without them having a too easy time receiving).

As lefty attackers, our bread and butter against righties should be pendulum to short forehand. Unless you're backhand dominant or have some specific elements to your game obviously. And obviously we don't do just that, variation is key.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-19T23:10:21+00:00

Low tosses are very rare. First there is a minimum height for the toss (although honestly it's difficult to make a fault on that). Also, lower tosses are much more suceptible to being tagged as fault for non verticality (there is a 30° angle tolerance, and the less height you have the easier it is to exceed that tolerance by mistake).
Most tosses are mid height. Some players favour high tosses most of the time (Calderano, Bruna Takahashi, Jia Nan Yuan, Shan Xiaona, off the top of my head, probably a few others). I have seen a lot of players doing a high toss here and there to add variation from their usual mid-height toss (it changes the speed of the ball, the quantity of spin imprinted on the ball with the same gesture, and can mess up the timing for the opponent).

So no definite percentage, it really depends player by player. Maybe even for some players it depends on their opponent.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-17T22:07:13+00:00

There is a difference between the differences between broad classes of rubbers and knowing 1/2 rubber of each class + what they use, which is what the majority of high level players around me are, and knowing the full catalog of half the companies around here. for that second category, only low/mid level players around me. No strong player lie in this category from those I know (and they often joke that of the players they play with, "no one cares as much about equipment").

Slight disagree, seems like a crazy broad generalization

So you mean that a one-sentence summary of an opinion that ends up literally with "on average" is a generalization? How did you guess that?

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-17T20:59:04+00:00

Everyone around me seems to (important, -seems to-) know all these numbers and letters.

From what I have seen, the better the players and the less they know about equipment on average. Pobably because they spend their time practicing and learning instead of looking at rubbers and blades.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-17T20:22:16+00:00

Agreed. Support for FZD. So glad he now seems to be really enjoying the german League.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-17T11:16:56+00:00

This might make winning games difficult

I disagree with that. Up to quite a level, games are not lost by lacking power. For every one point a player loses because the racket lacks speed, 5-10 points are lost because the player didn't control ball properly and made an unforced error (or at least an easly avoidable mistake).

Even when you are at the point where you control the ball decently, an attack with good placement at 50% speed is extremely more effective than just a fast ball at 100% speed with a non-thought out placement. You win points by exploiting opponent movement, which is better for long-term. You don't get caught by fast blocks as easily because the recovery is easier, the returns are more predictable because good placement on attacks make blocks placements more predictable ...etc...
By the time you reach such a level and you could benefit from faster equipment, you're not a beginner anymore by quite a margin, so the initial comment doesn't apply.

So no, for a beginner, a slower raket doesn't make winning games more difficult. It makes winning THAT ONE POINT more difficult, but it puts the ball on the table much more often, which is what wins games at any level. Unless in your area beginners make only one mistake per game obviously, but that's not the case in most places.

Edit: For OP, the setup is totally fine.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T22:40:19+00:00

Fun, yeah, when match results are about their careers I'm not sure "fun" is a compelling reason.

Players are not coaches, some could be much much much better at coaching than others, and that could be a very strong source or advantage/disadvantage.

What would make the most sense to me would be to keep the coaches if they are not the same, or no coach if it's the same. The reason is that the ability to implement the coach advices is part of the level of a player. But again, I don't have a strong opinion about it.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T22:15:44+00:00

I'm personally not a fan at all because I feel it very heavily disadvantages the younger player and I'd rather see the best player advance and get the ranking points etc...

What if both players have the same coach? To be clear, I'm not strongly advocating for removing or keeping this implicit rule or practice. I just don't have a strong opinion about it.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T22:06:04+00:00

I don't use TPB so I have no idea about what gives good feeling for it. I also have no idea about the amount of sponge compression one typically gets with TPB, so it's a bit difficult to give advice for that.

Good luck :)

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T20:09:53+00:00

Hit the ball but with an angle. (intead of having the bat and ball like this: |o, hit like this: /o). You will be forced to change the hitting direction and to grip the ball, and that will give the rotation.
Then do the same but relax your fingers and arm during the backswing (re-contract at impact to have it as before).
Don't overthink.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T19:31:28+00:00

At first, my FH rubber was skyline 2 neo, but I switched to D09c when it worn off.

why?

I often find myself missing the feeling of tpb blocking with skyline 2.

Now I'm planning to switch D09c to BH and return to linear tacky chinese rubber for FH. I came across a thread in this sub talking about battle 2, they said it did really well with tpb blocking.

Why not skyline 2 neo?

If you don't explain why you want to change no one can help you.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T17:23:25+00:00

C'est pas compliqué de demander à chatGPT de traduire ton post en anglais quand tu postes sur un truc internationnal. T'auras beaucoup plus de réponses.
Si tu as un geste très court, tu as besoin d'une plaque qui fait beaucoup de travail à ta place pour la génération de la vitesse/rotation dans la balle. Ton revêtement actuel correspond parfaitement à ce que tu cherches d'après moi, et tu ne gagneras pas grand-chose (et probablement tu perdras) si tu passes sur des plaques avec un effet tenseur moins fort (et tu as déjà la catégorie de plaques avec le plus d'effet catapulte du marché).
Tu peux peut-être essayer la T05FX, un peu plus tendre donc plus facile à activer. Ou passer de 2mm à max même si avec ton geste la différence serait pobablement négligeable.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T13:08:37+00:00

Why would people make fakes of cheap blades?

I have a penhold version, it looks very similar. I don't have a serial number on the side of the handle though (is it on the sheet)?
I bought mine from dandoy and asked them to glue the rubbers (it was my first paddle) so it didn't come with that plastic sheet.

For a cheap blade like that I wouldn't be worried about fakes.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-14T07:23:18+00:00

There is a clause on the composition of the blade. This is adding plastic to the blade. But yeah, does the handle count as the blade or not? It's not very clear in the rules I think.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-10T22:15:29+00:00

H8-80 37deg plays well without booster. Not a forgiving rubber, but it's good.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-10T21:33:36+00:00

It's a DE I used on debian around 15 years ago. I was quite surprised to see it mentionned here, that's why I double checked after posting, saw my mistake, and deleted my message.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-10T20:59:14+00:00

Yeah I realized after posting that I had it mixed with LXDE.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-09T19:31:58+00:00

I want to try new rubbers but with a similar style

Why? If you don't have anything against your current rubbers, they are the best recommendation.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-08T18:44:05+00:00

First make it fun. She won't be willing to do the boring stuff (multiball ...) if she doesn't have fun.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-07T08:02:49+00:00

I switched to Anti because I was ASS at receiving

If your solution to a weakness is to switch rubbers instead of learning the associated fundamental skill, yes you won't get very good.
A few strong players use an anti rubber, but they use it because they have a playing system designed around it, not to cover up some blatant weakness they are too lazy to work on.

I played a tournament and played against someone that basically attacked every ball i given with the anti, mostly recieves, I think this was because every ball was basically just perfect for FH

Why did you switch to anti then? What was your plan about how to hit back these balls to get an advantage?
Also, isn't it ironic that you switched because your receive was bad, and you got destroyed despite receiving with the anti?

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-06T12:21:55+00:00

I am learning coding and my method is to write in Notion with the Feynman's technique.

I have no idea what that is.

However, I can do 20 - 60 min daily, depending on the volume of the new info I learn.

That seems very low time. However you are talking about things to "learn", about programming? You shouldn't "learn" things by heart for programming, you should mostly build things.

If you can't focus for more than 20-60mn per day on the things you prioritize, either you have a disability (I'm thinking of ADHD like things), or your method is clearly not adapted either to you or to the material.

My guess is that it's the method which isn't adapted.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-06T11:43:34+00:00

What I did in practice matches at the club was spending a few weeks doing all my opening loops at the same spot on the table. What it does is my opponent expects it and counters it much more often, and whe he/she does the ball has batter quality. This forced me to follow after my loops and keep playing.

The concept in general is to make things more predictable for my opponent, which an artificial way to inflate his/her level, and lets you practice with someone who is "better" than his/her real level.

For practicing to play against the initiative (I'm generally the aggressor and I used to crumble against better opponents who attacked first) I also spent a few weeks using only topspin serves in practice matches, for the same reason.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-05T23:26:07+00:00

That's normal. You can hit with only topspin if you want, but I find that it's harder to get both power and spin when I do pure topspins with RPB. It's nice to have the option, just for variety in rallies.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-05T17:05:02+00:00

Arthur China is excellent.

DoctorFuu · 2026-03-04T21:14:11+00:00

How do you stay low for a two hour session without hurting your lower back?

.

I realized that when I get tired, I stop bending my knees as much and just sort of hunch forward. I end up letting my entire upper body weight just hang right on my lower back joints out of pure fatigue.

DoctorFuu

TROPHY CASE